Kick-starting Your Career – Considering Career Transition

30% of people, who decide on a career switch, don’t actually get down to it.

Life’s Daily Grind, Overwhelming Career Choices and Procrastination are considered the main reasons for the delay in kick-starting most people’s career.

A Clearly Outlined Plan, some Dedicated Time spent on Research and Ability to Visualize Yourself in your Chosen Career will help find purpose and bring everything into perspective.

Whether starting out in your choice of career for the first time, or switching careers at some point of time in your professional journey due to a change in the job focus, every one of us goes about it cautiously; planning it, researching the options, and using all the available resources to zero in on one career that we eventually want to pursue.

But despite all the planning, all the preparation that goes into it, there are many of us who keep postponing this all important decision all too often. The reasons although simple enough, can affect the transition in a big way.

Some of them include;

Everyday life responsibilities such as work, family and kids.

Overwhelming choices available and confusion on the path to be followed

Being unsure about the fact; whether interest sets match the jobs that have been narrowed down

Indecision on whether additional courses will benefit or delay the job change

The above reasons may be trivial, but make it difficult to carve out the time needed to focus on your career. They also don’t allow you to be mentally prepared to think of the switch.

Studies in the past have shown that only 70% of people actually jump into a job change after immediately deciding on one. The rest (30%) either procrastinate or have allowed time and responsibilities to impose on their decision.

As the Scottish proverb goes, “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.” So too is this opportunity of doing something for your career, which if allowed to delay, might just never happen.
Kick-starting your career is therefore all about first visualizing it in your mind. It is only when you experience yourself in that situation, will you actually go out to make that situation a reality.

So the next question is; how do we get ourselves to visualize where we want to be. The answer is in spending a few minutes each day for the next 3 weeks, to ‘think big’ and ‘think positive’.

Week 1:

Although this ‘thought’ of a job change has been going out for months, ask yourself when was the last time you actually sat down to do something about it.

This first week is all about spending a few minutes of each day to let random thoughts flow, and jotting down the following points;

Where do my interests lie?

What kind of work excites me?

What are the reasons for the delay in pursuing my dream career?

Are these reasons manageable, and how long it would take to sort them out?

If an additional course is required, how can I manage that with my other responsibilities?

Do the above exercises diligently; talk to yourself, make notes, scribble what comes to your mind!

When you see everything in front of you, it brings about clarity of thought. Although you might not get definite answers you seek, you will be able to awaken that part of you that was excited for the change in the first place.

Week 2:

Further you’re thought thread during this week. Go over everything you did when you were researching the job and assessing your career in the first place.

Research the web

Read through magazines

Talk to family and friends

Go back to notes you would have probably created in the first place

Do all this and anything more that you can, to give more direction to your train of thought; the main reason for wanting the change in career to start with.

Although this research might throw up innumerable probabilities and choices, it will also help you re-think a second time, on the options you have in-front of you, and how you want to proceed.

Week 3:

The third week is all about visualizing yourself in the jobs you are most kicked about.

Take the most prominent jobs that have struck your interest, and try to see yourself in them. Make this a practice every day of the week. Just like wearing new clothes, try out each and every career on yourself; it may be a doctor one day, a designer the next, or even an artist the third day.

Look for your response and reaction on getting into the skin of the job; what will be your responsibilities, your work environment, the pressure you will go through, your growth in it etc. Also, see and understand whether
you will be happy doing it long-term.

Jot down the pros and cons of each, and at the end of the week, you will spot what you are looking for. You will make out a pattern of how your mind works, its reaction to a selected job. This will give you a broad idea, of why you want the career change, and what are the things to do to get out of your existing one and into a new one.

And if you have to do it again, then

Gain work experience

Take up an additional course

Take up volunteering

Ensure that you stick with the outcome of what your research shows you and what you have already prepared yourself for; that of bringing about a change in your career, your life and how your mind works!

About the Author

Eshna is a writer at Simplilearn. She has done Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication and is a Gold Medalist in the same. A voracious reader, she has penned several articles in leading national newspapers like TOI, HT and The Telegraph. She loves traveling and photography.